1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the recovery of oil from subterranean formations by chemical flooding methods.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Petroleum is frequently recovered from subterranean formations or reservoirs by permitting the natural energy of the reservoir to push the pertroleum up through wells to the surface of the earth. These processes are referred to as primary recovery methods since they use the natural energy of the reservoir. However, a large amount of oil, generally in the range of 65-90% or more, is left in the subterranean formation at the conclusion of the primary recovery program. When the natural reservoir energy is unable to produce more petroleum, it is a common practice to resort to some form of supplemental recovery technique in order to recover additional petroleum left in the subterranean formation. These supplemental operations are normally referred to as secondary recovery operations. If this supplemental recovery operation is the second in a series of such operations, it will be referred to as a tertiary recovery operation. However, the terminology is unimportant for the purposes of this application and relates only to the sequence in which they are carried out.
The most widely used supplemental recovery technique because of its ease of implementation and low capital outlay is water flooding through injection wells drilled into the subterranean formation. In a water flooding operation, the injected fluid displaces oil through the formation to be produced from the injection well. A major disadvantage to water flooding, however, is its relatively poor displacement efficiency largely due to the fact that water and oil are immiscible at reservoir conditions and high interfacial tension exists between the flood water and the oil. For this reason, after a water flood, a large portion of the oil is still left unrecovered in the reservoir.
It has been recognized by those skilled in the art that a solution effecting a reduction in this interfacial tension between water and oil would provide a much more efficient recovery mechanism. Therefore, the inclusion of a surface active agent or surfactant in the flood water was recognized as an acceptable techinque for promoting displacement efficiency of the reservoir oil by the water. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,468,377 discloses the use of petroleum sulfonates in water flooding operations and U.S. Pat. No. 3,553,130 discloses the use of ethylene oxide adducts of alkyl phenols for the same purpose. The use in water flooding operations of water soluble surface active alkaline earth resistant polyglycol ethers is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,233,381. Other specialized surfactants, as will be discussed later, have been discovered to have special properties useful in water flooding operations such as a tolerance for high salinity and calcium, and/or magnesium ion concentrations often found in reservoir waters.
However, field operations employing surfactants and surface active agents in injected fluid have not always been entirely satisfactory due to the fact that these materials are often adsorbed by the formation rock to a relatively high degree, resulting in an ever declining concentration of the materials as they progress through the reservoir. Therefore, large concentrations of surface active materials have heretofore been necessary to maintain a sufficient concentration at the oil-water interface. Due to this, many proposed flooding operations involving surface active materials have been uneconomical.
Another serious problem for any recovery technique involving the driving of oil with a fluid is premature breakthrough of the injection fluid. This premature breakthrough indicates that the reservoir has not been adequately swept of oil. The problem is often described in terms of sweep efficiency as distinguished from the displacement efficiency described above. Displacement efficiency involves a microscopic pore by pore efficiency by which water displaces oil, whereas sweep efficiency is related to the portion of the reservoir which is swept and unswept by the injected fluid. A major cause of poor sweep efficiency is associated with the fact that the injected fluid generally has a lower viscosity than the displaced fluid (petroleum). Thus, the injected fluid has a higher mobility and tends to finger through the oil, prematurely breaking through to the production well.
One solution to this high mobility problem is to increase the viscosity of the driving fluid. A way to do this is to add polymeric organic materials to a driving water which has the effect of increasing the viscosity of the water, thereby increasing the sweep efficiency of the supplemental recovery process. U.S. Pat. No. 3,039,529 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,282,337 teach the use of aqueous polyacrylamide solutions to increase the viscosity of the injected fluid thereby promoting increase sweep efficiency. Polysaccharides as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,581,824 have been used for the same purpose. These polymers are quite expensive and any polymer lost to adsorption on the reservoir matrix adds substantially to the cost since additional polymer is required to maintain a given viscosity.
The above described problems have been recognized by those skilled in the art of oil recovery and certain sacrificial compounds have been added to pretreat the formation in order to decrease the adsorption of subsequently injected surfactants and/or polymers. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,414,054 discloses the use of aqueous solutions of pyridine; U.S. Pat. No. 3,469,630 discloses the use of sodium carbonate and inorganic polyphosphates, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,437,141 discloses the use of soluble carbonates, inorganic polyphosphates and sodium borate in combination with saline solution of a surfactant having both a high and a low molecular weight component. These materials have not been completely satisfactory from a standpoint of performance and economics however.